I found this interesting nugget as I was writing this. Back then, I had an idea for how to make CFLs safer. I don’t know why no one thought of it before I did. From a consumer safety standpoint, it would seem like an obvious solution:

[M]aybe they could put a plastic bulb around the coil that would absorb the shock, or at least contain the contents if the coil broke from jarring. This would require them to make the coils smaller, but the added safety would be worth it.

Several months ago, while shopping for bulbs at the grocery store, I noticed they were selling CFLs with a hard plastic bulb, just like I suggested! Too little, too late, I guess. I am happy to say that CFLs are going away at the end of this year.

I actually stocked up on incandescents on clearance. I haven’t been using CFLs for most of my lighting. I ended up using them for a couple overhead lights, just because an inspector came through a couple years ago to make sure the apartment complex I live in was “smart regs-compliant,” and I didn’t want to embarrass my landlord by creating any excuse to call the dwelling non-compliant. “I love my minders…”

This doesn’t mean incandescents are coming back. They’re still banned by legislation passed in 2007, but at least there are now better lighting options. Since a few years ago, those who prefer incandescents can get halogen bulbs that are the same size as the old incandescents, and are just as bright. They cost more, but they’re supposed to use less electricity, and last longer. What I care about is that they operate on the same principle. They use a filament. So if you break one, all you have to do is clean up the glass, and vacuum or mop. No toxic spill. Yay!

As the guys in the video say, there are now very good LED lighting options, which are also non-toxic to you.

So I see this as reason to celebrate. The market actually succeeded in getting rid of an expensive, hazardous form of lighting that, it seems to me, our government tried to force on us. I wish the ban would be lifted. I don’t see the point in it. I know people will say it reduces pollution, because we can lower the amount of electricity we use, but as I explained years ago, this is a dumb way to go about it. Lighting is not the major source of electricity usage. Our air conditioning is the elephant in the room, each summer!

Aaron Renn had a good article on what was really going on with the light bulb ban, in “The Return of the Monkish Virtues,” written in 2012. It’s interesting reading. The idea always was to force people to think about their impact on the environment, not to actually do anything substantial about it.